Clemson frosh says ND tactics negative

July 20, 2006|JEFF CARROLL Tribune Staff Writer

A Clemson University freshman says Notre Dame engaged in negative football recruiting practices in an attempt to pry him from his verbal commitment. "I'm not going to lie," Jamie Cumbie was quoted as saying in the Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday. "The coaches at Notre Dame sent some bad letters ripping Clemson after I committed here." Cumbie, a 6-foot-7, 255-pound tight end, was considered one of the top players at his position in the nation a year ago as a senior at Morris (Ill.) High School. A native of South Carolina who had moved to an area about an hour west of Chicago during high school, Cumbie's college selection came down to boyhood favorite Clemson and the Irish. He finalized his decision early last June. But Cumbie told the Charleston paper that the Notre Dame coaching staff continued to pursue him afterward, allegedly denigrating Clemson's academics in the process. "They had a piece of paper and it broke down advantages and disadvantages," Cumbie is quoted as telling the Post and Courier. "It said Notre Dame was televised every weekend, every Saturday. Then they said Clemson has a horrible education." Clemson is a public university in Clemson, S.C., with an undergraduate enrollment of about 14,000. U.S. News & World Report ranked the university 34th out of 162 public doctoral-granting universities in its 2006 ranking of United States colleges. As far as South Carolina native Cumbie goes, his high school coach at Morris, George Dergo, said he did not witness any of the negative recruiting that Cumbie has reported. "I did catch wind that Notre Dame was talking up their educational values and that they are a top-notch school educationally as well as in football," Dergo said. "Maybe Jamie was misunderstanding what they were saying when they were talking up themselves rather than talking down Clemson. "Jamie's a pretty good guy. I don't think he'd go out on a limb and rip on Notre Dame or anybody else. I've never known Jamie to do that in the two or three years we had him here. "I know Notre Dame was promoting their program and how their school is compared to a lot of the other schools in the area and the nation. They boast on good academics just like all schools would." Notre Dame already has some South Carolinians on edge this week after vaunted cornerback prospect Gary Gray backed away from his verbal commitment from the University of South Carolina and said he wants to give Notre Dame a longer look. That angered some Gamecock fans, convinced Notre Dame was being unethical in pursuing Gray, even before Cumbie's comments. Oral commitments are non-binding, so Notre Dame is not being accused of violating any NCAA recruiting rules. However, the sanctity of verbal commitments and the ethics of recruiting an athlete who has already pledged himself to another school is a hot topic among college coaches. Cumbie told the Charleston newspaper that Notre Dame was the only school that continued to recruit him after his Clemson verbal commitment. "They were sending me postcards like a month after I committed," Cumbie reportedly said. "The only school that tried to keep recruiting me was Notre Dame. It didn't really bother me." Contacted Tuesday evening at about 5 p.m., a spokesperson at Notre Dame's office of sports information said only head coach Charlie Weis could comment on Cumbie's accusations. Weis is currently out of the office and ND sports information was unable to track him down for a statement before Tribune deadlines Wednesday evening. A contact number the Tribune had for Cumbie's parents in Morris, Ill., was no longer in service. But Dergo said he never heard from Notre Dame after Cumbie committed to Clemson. "I don't think they were trying to recruit him after he verballed, not to my knowledge," Dergo said. "Maybe it takes word to get around after a kid commits. I talked to Charlie Weis and he seemed like a standup guy and he knows the ropes. I wouldn't see him doing that." Last season, Notre Dame recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello, also the Irish's wide receivers coach, was asked about the concept of negative recruiting by the Tribune publication Irish Sports Report. Ianello told ISR that doing things like comparing future depth charts at a player's position doesn't constitute "negative recruiting." "If you're going to go ahead and do some things that aren't quite factual, then that's negative," Ianello said. The use of academics in that style of recruiting was addressed in the piece, but only in terms of schools potentially using Notre Dame's notoriously tough academics against it in recruiting battles. Tribune Staff Writer Jeff Carroll: jcarroll@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6382